Michigan Theater a 5-star show

Keeping its Ann Arbor News Readers' Choice Award streak alive - it's won each year since the program's inception in 2004 - the Michigan Theater has once again been voted the area's best movie theater.

By showing art house fare in a historic movie palace setting, the Michigan fuses new and old to create a memorable moviegoing experience.

"For the last 15 years or so, I think that the Michigan Theater has had the two dynamics of computers," said Russ Collins, executive director and CEO of the Michigan. "There's the hardware and the software. And clearly, the Michigan Theater as a piece of hardware - people respond extremely strongly to it, because it's a restored, historic theater. It's a slice of the past, and it's intrinsically beautiful. ... But you also have to have the software to make it something that is usable. And so the program of films that we're able to offer in this community keeps the hardware enlivened and vital."

Indeed, the Michigan Theater is one of a few places in the state where cinephiles can consistently view a program of independent films, foreign films and documentaries.

Plus, at the national level, Collins was invited to last year's Sundance Film Festival to participate in a specialty theater panel discussion, and the Michigan also won the League of Historic American Theatre's 2006 award for Outstanding Historic Theatre of the Year.

But the details that make the Michigan a longtime local favorite hangout include the live music that's performed on a Barton theater organ before and after most screenings, real butter on the popcorn, and ornate decor and architecture that recalls a glamorous, bygone era.

"The Michigan Theater is, bottom line, a community project, so to know that the community supports the theater, in terms of thinking of it as the best place to see a movie, is absolutely critical," said Collins. "It's so gratifying. The only reason we're here is for the community. And it's the only way we survive is through community support."